Battle Cry of the Suburban Majority

Joel Kotkin makes a big, sprawling argument in favor of political action in response to what he describes as an assault on the suburban way of life by the progressive political class.

The polemic begins by claiming that most Americans prefer single-family homes in suburban communities. "Yet," writes Kotkin "it has been decided, mostly by self-described progressives, that suburban living is too unecological, not mention too uncool, and even too white for their future America."

So the progressives have erected obstacles to suburban development. Examples of such obstacles, as listed by Kotkin, include density incentives, urban growth boundaries, the Department of Housing and Development's new Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's new Clean Water Rule.

The polemic concludes by prognosticating the political implications of the progressive alliance with urban centers.